I received my first condolence reply from the UK Royals following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. This reply is from Princess Anne.
The envelope has a handwritten address and does this very beautiful thing where each line of the address is indented. Since Princess Anne's office switched to pre-made more generic cards back in 2021, her envelopes have often been hand-written. And it kind of makes sense, that if you aren't typing replies, tyou wouldn't want to use the computer just to print a personalized envelope.
The yellow box at the bottom is the forwarding sticker because I'm still not home after the condo fire in September.
The back of the envelope is blank.
Inside the envelope is a flat card with a black border. Black border stationery is a mourning tradition popularized in the Victorian Era. I have always found the black mourning border to be very lovely. The top of the card features Princess Anne's monogram, an "A" under the Coronet of the Child of the Monarch. This same coronet is used on Princess Anne's Coat of Arms. The coronet a royal uses is based on their relationship to a Monarch, not necessarily the current one. So, Anne will continue to use this foronet.
In terms of the printed card, it is almost identical to the one sent following the death of Prince Philip. The one difference is the lack of period "." following the word "future."
The card is written by Princess Anne's Lady in Waiting, Celia Innes, who has served Princess Anne since 1977. And adds a personal note, at the end of the general card, thanking me for my donation to The Red Cross. I donated to The Red Cross in Queen Elizabeth's memory, as she was the Patron of the British Red Cross throughout her reign. The British Red Cross is one of the patronages that has been passed down from Monarch to Monarch since Queen Victoria. But prior to her accession, then Princess Elizabeth served as Patron of the British Junior Red Cross.
The card reads:
Dear Gertrude
The Princess Royal thanks you for your kind thoughts and sends you best wishes for the future and is very grateful for your donation to The Red Cross.
Your Sincerely
Celia Innes
Lady in Waiting
